Panellist

Penny Wong

Finance Minister

Penny Wong is the Finance Minister and as such is at the centre of preparations for next month’s Federal Budget.

Penny was born in 1968 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, to a Malaysian-Chinese father and an Australian mother. She was eight years old when she, her mother and brother moved to Australia when her parents separated. They settled in Adelaide and Penny ultimately graduated with an Arts/Law degree from the University of Adelaide, where she became politically active and joined the ALP.

Penny graduated in 1992 and worked with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union before being admitted to the Bar in 1993. During the mid-1990s she worked for the NSW Government as an adviser, specialising in forestry policy, then returned to Adelaide to work as a lawyer and union adviser. She also won a position on the ALP’s State executive.

Penny won top spot on the South Australian ALP Senate ticket for the 2001 election and entered the shadow ministry in 2005. After the 2007 election she entered Cabinet with the onerous and high-profile climate change portfolio. Almost immediately after the election she accompanied Kevin Rudd to Bali for international climate change talks where the Kyoto protocol was publicly ratified. Two years later, in December 2009, she was at the Copenhagen climate change summit where the international community spectacularly failed to reach agreement on a world-wide carbon reduction scheme.

As well as being regarded as one of the most capable younger members of the Labor government, Penny is the first Asian-born member of an Australian Cabinet and the first to be openly in a same-gender relationship. She is also a committed Christian, attending the Pilgrim Uniting Church in Adelaide.